A Blue Bride
by OrangeMacawWorld
Summary: After Blu comes to realize that he must marry Jewel if he is to safeguard the existence of his entire kindred, he makes it his mission to appeal to the latter macaw even further than previously. Unfortunately, Blu is antagonized constantly by his very own timid nature and feelings of uncertainty, even as he is guided by several other birds on his gradual romantic journey.
1. A Morning of Lovebirds

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Greetings everyone! It appears as if I have another story to present to you all, does it not? Well, yes, if you did make that assumption, you are indeed correct. Before anyone asks, this is NOT the sequel to "Don't Go" that I mentioned almost a year ago, as that story is yet to be completed. Rather, this is an entirely different story that has much more to do with the first film than my previous work. Before you actually begin reading this story, I would first like to point out that I actually brainstormed the idea for it some two months before "Don't Go" was even a mere concept, though I held back on it for the longest time. Now that it is Christmas Eve, I wish that this work of mine will serve to you all as a sufficient Christmas gift. Let's fly!**_

April 23rd, 2011, Rio de Janeiro

At a gradual pace, the glowing yellow sun continued its passage in an upward direction, eventually finding its position within the pale-blue sky that it held every day before nightfall set in. The sun flared every now and again for several moments, standing overhead of all things within the stupendous city of Rio de Janeiro; from the soft white clouds, to the tall gray buildings, to the marvelous conical Sugarloaf Mountain, to the dense Tijuca Forest, and even to the few birds of numerous varieties that were flying about at this early of an hour.

The sunlight now displayed its beauty as it shimmered across the waters of Guanabara Bay, the two-mile-wide body of water that separated both the middle-class and wealthy neighborhoods of Rio from the peninsula on which Sugarloaf Mountain sat. The light also overlooked the many favelas within the city, large collections of small houses that were typically stacked atop one another and absolutely rife with poverty, with many of which standing upon the considerable number of mountains that the city of Rio offered.

A few children within the favelas themselves were now playing soccer with one another, often with balls that had been long since tattered across their surfaces. Some of the children instead grabbed sticks and twigs that were scattered across the streets that showed much wear and tear, and would also take empty cans of food from both their household cupboards as well as from off the streets, using them as drums. Other children soon joined in the fun, using various other household items as instruments, sufficiently quelling their many sorrows with the mere rhythm of their music alone.

As Carnaval had ended the previous day, the streets throughout Rio bore no costumed parade-goers or Samba school instructors walking along them, nor did they bear any extravagant and colorful floats whose wheels ran along them. Consequently, the dramatic increase in tourism within not only Rio, but Brazil as a whole had substantially died down. With that, no longer were the doors of the many foreign currency exchange buildings crowded, and no longer were the dazzling colors of the Carnaval parade taking place within the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapocaí stadium visible from afar during the time of night.

Before long, many of the birds inhabiting the lush urban rainforest of Tijuca (that was located north of Sugarloaf Mountain) arose from their peaceful sleep and from their hollows that they slept in. Finches whistled, macaws and conures squawked, toucans sang, and spoonbills honked, their distinct calls all echoing throughout the jungle. Special however were the frigatebirds, which sat together along branches and inflated their bright-red gular pouches, before proceeding to beat on them with their wings in the same manner that humans used their hands to play the drums.

As the birds usually did, they assembled within a matter of seconds, forming a spectacular display as they all sang the most popular song sung by the birds of Rio de Janeiro, _Real in Rio_. From a very young age, virtually every creature inhabiting Tijuca in possession of feathers and a beak was taught this lively, upbeat, and joyful song on repeat, until they knew its entirety by heart.

Among the many fabulous acts performed by the birds during their few minutes of simultaneous song was the "Formation of the Flower," which was exactly as its formal name implied. The act involved a group of thirteen Red-and-green Macaws first gathering around, only a few feet above one of the many crystal-clear streams passing through the rainforest. Five of the thirteen macaws then formed a circle and bent over whilst in flight, with the topside surfaces of their wings facing upwards.

This was the part of their magnificent presentation that resembled the flower itself, while the rest of the macaws circled around their companions and tilted their bodies, their backs now facing the water below them. Lifting their wings up and down to keep themselves aloft whilst also circling around the red, harlequin, and cyan flower, while difficult, still provided for a wonderful sight.

A minute eventually came to pass since the song had begun, and five macaws, joined by three Golden Conures and two Chestnut-mandibled Toucans, flew in a single-file line, shortly thereafter surpassing a tree of slightly taller stature than most of the other trees within the rainforest. However, this tree was not like any other within Tijuca Forest, for within its spacious hollow lived the most celebrated and beloved macaws in all of Rio de Janeiro - Tyler Blu Gunderson, and his love interest, Jewel Torres.

The last Spix's Macaws known to exist on earth, they had received praise from virtually all of the avian inhabitants of Tijuca almost as soon as they had made their arrival, especially from those birds that the couple had helped free aboard a smuggler's cargo plane the previous month. Blu himself had been selected as a candidate for earning the title of the King of Carnaval by the Yellow Canary named Nico and the Red-crested Cardinal named Pedro, in gratitude of his actions on the 9th of March, now little more than six weeks ago.

During those past six odd weeks, Blu had made frequent visits to Jewel in the Blu Bird Sanctuary, whose broken left wing had still been recovering. Up until several days preceding this day in particular, she had worn a wrapping of bandages around her injured wing, allowing it to heal. Whilst Jewel had still been undergoing medical care at the sanctuary from Tulio, (among several other doctors) Blu had spoken to her in the treatment and surgery rooms (the latter of which being where Jewel had received her wing bandages.)

Several times during the months of both March and April, Blu had also carried her in his talons to the Carnaval parades, of course whilst Tulio had been on break, as to avoid trouble. Jewel's bandages had finally been removed on the 20th of April, exactly six weeks following the occurrence of the injury. The following day, she had done seldom more than spend time in the treatment room while under surveillance.

There, the doctors had carefully observed her flight patterns, eventually leading to the decision to release her the next day, rather than to keep her in the sanctuary for several more days of flight rejuvenation. This was due to her good flight performance that she had demonstrated for both Tulio and his coworkers.

Following Jewel's release from the sanctuary on the 22nd, she and Blu had flown together on a tour through some of the middle-class neighborhoods of the city, guided by Nico and Pedro. Along the way, many familiar and unfamiliar birds alike had come to greet the two Spix's Macaws, which to both birds' surprise had forwarded few intrusive questions.

They had also visited numerous marketplaces, shops, and one of Rio's hallmark locations - Corcovado Mountain, which upon its peak stood the famous Cristo Redentor statue. The tour all around had left both birds utterly exhausted, and as a result, they had fallen asleep much earlier than they had originally anticipated.

As of now, the two Spix's Macaws remained asleep. Blu now lied along the hollow's nest composed of mostly leaves, upheld by branches, twigs, and other easily accessible building materials found in Tijuca. He had designed the nest all on his own, putting his mathematical talents to the test in the midst of its construction, which had been partaken in by not only himself, but the Toco Toucan by the name of Rafael as well. As Jewel had still been hospitalized at the time, she had not been able to contribute to the construction of the nest, despite her strong desire to having done so.

Whilst the nest had still been under construction, Blu had slept in either the aviary beside Jewel or within Rafael's hollow. However, as much gratitude as he held for Rafael for teaching him the basic principles of flight, Blu still held very little tolerance for the rather atrocious behavior on the part of his eighteen children, who constantly attacked not only him, but any stranger who dared approach his hollow. In fact, ever since he had first encountered Rafael's children, Blu had thought of them as little more than feathered wasps that masked their maliciousness with their innocent appearance.

Blu's body, for both the entire night and as of yet was facing Jewel, whom of which was curled up beside him, her body facing Blu. His wing was firmly wrapped around her, blanketing most of her body below the neck with an additional layer of cerulean feathers. Not long afterward, when only about a minute of _Real in Rio_ remained, Jewel's gorgeous turquoise eyes slowly opened, before she blinked for several seconds, then concentrating her focus upon her love-hawk beside her. Also gorgeous were her cloud-white facial markings, which progressively gleamed as ever the more sunlight made its way into the hollow by the minute.

Her beak could not help but curve into a warm smile as she watched Blu's chest rise up and down for several seconds, before deciding it was time for him to arise from his slumber. She then used the muscles within her left wing to push it upwards, simultaneously lifting the wing that Blu had wrapped around her in order to awaken him.

For good measure, her head also leaned forward, nudging him against the shoulder in a gentle manner with her small gray beak. Only seconds later, Blu's hazel eyes also opened, before he blinked for a moment, then focusing on Jewel whilst also sporting a loving smile upon his own gray beak, which was both larger and taller than that of his love interest.

"Good morning, Jewel," Blu whispered drowsily, following his realization that she had awoken him just seconds ago. After then realizing that Jewel was lifting his wing upwards, he asked her whether she was inclined to stay within the hollow under his wing or not. "Do you want my wing off you?"

"Sure thing," she replied sweetly. With that, Blu did as she had asked, lifting his left wing in the air for a brief period, before placing it over his chest. He then looked towards the sky, observing its color for a brief while, before concluding that the time stood at around 7:00 AM, possibly earlier or later by a slight degree. As Blu had usually arisen from his sleep at either 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning for the past fifteen years of his life, he could not help but wonder as to why Jewel had decided to awake him at such an early hour.

"Why so early?" he asked quietly, almost speaking in a tone of complaint.

"Back where I grew up, waking up early was basically a universal requirement," Jewel answered.

"Wait, _was_?" Blu gasped rather loudly. "What happened to your original home?"

"I'd… Well… I'd rather not say," Jewel replied, speaking in a slow manner, whilst her eyes bore a look of sadness within them. A sudden frown then appeared on her beak, before Blu gave his response to what she had said.

"Hmm, fair enough. I don't even know where I was born anyway. If I don't even know my own past, I might as well not know yours if you prefer to keep it private." A brief pause in conversation then came to exist between the two macaws until Blu, followed by Jewel, arose from where they had lied down inside the nest, stepping a foot or so forward in the direction of the hollow entrance. Blu gazed at the city that stood off in the distance before him, then speaking to Jewel again, who now stood only inches behind him. "You know, now that you've recovered and everything, I think we should maybe spend some time together today, or maybe tomorrow."

"Well, any suggestions?"

"I guess we could hitch a ride on the top of a bus and observe Rio," Blu recommended. "If we flew on out of here pretty soon, we could get a look at all of the schedules and decide which bus we'd like to ride."

"There you are with those bus schedules again; do you really like buses or something?" Jewel giggled.

"Oh! You actually remembered when I suggested to Rafael all those weeks ago that we catch the bus instead of flying, yeah… Funny, I can barely recall a lot of what I said that day myself, and with all those analgesics they put you on in the aviary, I would have assumed you wouldn't have remembered such a minute detail."

"What's an analgesic?" Jewel asked, bearing a puzzled look upon her beak.

"Ah, of course, why did I even assume you already knew that?" Blu scolded himself, leaning forward and hitting the upper portion of his beak with his right foot, clenched into a fist. Afterward, he faced Jewel again, explaining the meaning of the word she had questioned. "It's a fancy term used to describe a painkiller, basically. I learned all about medicine from a few books while I was with Linda."

"How unpredictable," Jewel sighed sarcastically, though in a friendly manner, her eyes still focusing on her love-hawk. Blu's beak then displayed a sheepish grin, his feathered cheeks below his light-blue eye rings transforming from their normal color of cerulean into a bright pink. He then continued the conversation after he had felt it unnecessary to dwell on the subject of medicine, the color of his cheeks then reverting to their original color.

"Okay, but back on topic, what was just on my mind? Ah, yes! We were gonna go sightseeing on the top of a bus, that's right. Anyway, are there any other suggestions? You probably know the best spots in the city - wait, how long have you lived here?"

"Not too long, maybe a year," Jewel answered quickly, before immediately abandoning the subject in order to continue discussing about the original topic of the conversation. "Moving on, we could go perch on the Vista Chinesa, it's not too far away; flying there is easy breezy. I'd much rather do that instead of riding a bus. You know, there's a lot less noise."

"And what _is_ the Vista Chinesa, exactly?"

"That gazebo that the two of us spent the night in when we first met."

"Oh, that's the name, huh? How'd you figure it out?"

"I asked a Blue-and-yellow Macaw in the sanctuary. He also had a broken wing."

"Great, I guess to keep us both happy, we can do that for a bit and _maybe_ catch a bus schedule." Jewel rolled her eyes in response to Blu making yet another suggestion involving a bus ride. However, she almost instantaneously regretted this action of disrespect, after feeling she needed to pay her debt to him for saving her life not too long ago, either one way or another. Blu then turned towards his love interest, asking her whether she approved of his decision or not. "You're okay with that, right?"

"Yes, I'm okay with that, I mean, I just _love_ buses, don't I?" she lied, figuring it would stand as more beneficial to her relationship if she remained polite. However, Blu did not believe she meant what she had said in the slightest, due to the tone of her voice hardly varying from when she spoke sarcastically.

"Hey, it's fine, if you don't want to go, you don't -" Blu began.

"No, no, I'll go, okay, I'm sorry," Jewel interrupted, now speaking in a tone of sincerity. "Maybe I'm not going into this with an open mind; look, I'll go with you, just please, find a bus that doesn't have exhaust you can smell from a mile away."

"Yes, obviously! Urgh, I hate the ones that have the awful-smelling exhaust too." Blu then ceased speaking for a moment, before changing the subject within a very short period of time. "Okay, should I go get breakfast now? I mean, your wing is still sorta recovering."

"No, I should get breakfast," Jewel insisted. "You're still learning to fly, and besides, I think I should be flying a bit more now after not flying for so long."

"Alrighty then, I guess I'll go to Rafael's in the meantime while you're getting fruit. I need to uh… Well, um, get something from there."

"What is it? C'mon, just tell me."

"Uh… Yeah, so, Eva asked me the other day if I needed softer leaves in this nest for you, ya know, in case your wing still hurt a little," Blu explained. "Anyway, I accepted her offer of six Reals."

"Why would she want human money?" Jewel asked, utterly perplexed at Rafael's mate needing some of the human currency of Brazil.

"'Cuz apparently, she needs it so that she can head on over to the Market Forro and get some guavas and such - she says it's the only fruit that'll shut her kids up. Ugh, you do _not_ want to know the full truth of what those barbarians did to me. One time, Miguel pretended he couldn't fly and fell off a tree branch, so I rushed out and tried to grab him. Guess what happened next? Well, this other one named Manoela or somebody else - no wait, sorry - yeah, so anyway, she hits me in the face with a mango tied to a vine, which she swung towards me after I got out of the hollow exit."

"How fun," Jewel remarked, once again speaking in a sarcastic manner. Soon thereafter, silence once again came to exist between the two birds, and now, it truly was silent, as the rainforest's ensemble of birds had finally concluded singing _Real in Rio_. As a matter of fact, the song had ended roughly two minutes prior, though the Spix's Macaw couple had been so engaged in their conversation that they had been rendered utterly oblivious to this notable change. Finally, Blu spoke again, putting his wing to his beak as he coughed on the first word that left it.

"So, um, sorry, uh… Anyway, do you wanna get breakfast now, or should we still talk for a bit?"

"I mean, I'd love to talk and all, but I'm usually pretty hungry, especially in the morning," Jewel answered.

"Okay, I guess I'll be going to Rafael's then. Just, uh, well… Be careful with your wing, is all." A moment later, Jewel took several steps forward, with Blu simultaneously turning around and walking back to the center of his nest, clearing the way for Jewel so that she could now fly. She then placed her right foot on the hollow entrance's lip, before leaning and then pushing herself forward, taking flight as she exited the hollow. In an even shorter period of time that followed, she completely left Blu's sight after turning rightward, with only the sound of her wingbeats indicating her mere presence.

Some six seconds later, Blu figured that it was virtually impossible for him to potentially make an airborne collision with Jewel by now, and as a result, he took flight in the same fashion as her. He made a turn shortly thereafter to his left, flying with ease throughout the rainforest as he made his way past the few birds still flying in the area. A few macaws, parakeets, toucans, and conures still not only flew within a very close proximity to Blu, but also stood along branches and sang various songs together.

However, the only one of these groups of birds that Blu was particularly impressed by whilst still in flight was an entire choir of six Peach-fronted Parakeets, all standing along a single branch, singing a celebratory song. Even the males of the group were able to reach very high notes flawlessly, leading the melody throughout roughly half of the song while the females in the group led the melody during the other half of the song. However, as beautiful as the tune was, Blu was as typical, more fascinated in testing his knowledge of sound frequency by assuming as to how many Hertz that the highest notes of the song measured.

After about two minutes had come to pass, with few turns or dives having to have been made on the part of the last male Spix's Macaw, he had seen fewer and fewer macaws pass by. Nonetheless, it was not long before Blu turned his head to his right, catching sight of two more Peach-fronted Parakeets standing within their hollow. The hollow itself had little inside it other than a typical parakeet nest, though the tree that it had been made in was quite a tall one, standing at only a slightly shorter height than the tree belonging to Blu and Jewel. The pair of birds standing inside the hollow consisted of one male and one female, facing each other from the left and right side respectively, their wingtips now in each other's wingtips, a romantic gesture that even the largely-domesticated Blu had come to recognize.

More notable however, was that the latter of the two parakeets wore a cloud-white orchid on the same direction of her head that faced Blu, neatly tucked into her silky head feathers. Both its petals and sepals were pristine, and equally as remarkable was its bright-yellow column that nicely held together all of the flower's petals and sepals. Blu could only assume that the parakeets had recently married, as he had learned from Nico and Pedro not long ago that white orchids in Tijuca Forest among birds generally referred to marriage.

This assumption was reinforced when only after Blu had slowed down his flight speed by a slight degree in order to view the couple, the male parakeet smiled gleefully, while the female's feathery cheeks glistened with tears of joy. Such joy, Blu thought, could only be brought to a bird via an event that truly mattered them by every stretch of the imagination.

Unfortunately, the mere sight of the loving couple, combined with the assumption Blu had just made, caused him to blink for a few seconds in anxiety. He was then at that moment reminded that if he were to save his own species from extinction, he would first have to marry Jewel, something that he had seldom ever thought about. This was especially a problem in his mind when considering his socially awkward nature.

Only a moment later, vivid images appeared in Blu's mind, depicting him screaming at his wedding and running away in nervousness, whilst a crowd of eager avian spectators squawked in disapproval. Even though he loved Jewel more than anything in the world, he had indeed all but forgotten the only reason that he had been summoned to Rio by Tulio in the first place.

For many years, Blu had read about parrot courtship in human books and had known very little about the macaws' culture, just as no human understood it. However, now that he lived in Tijuca among other birds of many varieties, he understood that macaw couples remained mates for life unless either mate died. It was also customary in virtually all neotropical parrot cultures for marriage to be a requirement before two birds started a family.

In fact, it was one of the few beliefs shared by almost all parrots, as the birds inhabiting Tijuca generally had different opinions as to what constituted as rectitude from parrot communities located elsewhere. Even at his fears for the worst of what could happen when that day when he would marry Jewel would soon come, Blu nonetheless kept muttering to himself, his words pertaining to the fact that if he were to back down, he would wipe out his entire kin. He also devised of other sets of words to motivate himself, though these were not spoken aloud, only thought: _Even though I never knew my parents, not continuing the species would be a spit in the face to them if they're dead._

Almost as soon as he concluded his muttering however, he noticed that not a single other macaw was in sight as of now. Blu then concluded that he had finally made his way to where most of Tijuca's toucan community resided, where relatively few macaws lived due to slight differences in etiquette and customs between them and the toucans. As Blu continued flying, the ground constantly ascended and flattened on repeat, which was to be expected due to Tijuca's presence atop Pedra Bonita, a mountain which had so far (not too far above from where most of the birds lived) risen no less than 2,296 feet, relative to its base.

Soon enough, after making several more turns, an open trail that was largely absent of foliage came into view, and within seconds, he found a peculiar, medium-sized tree that lied to his left, bearing a broad trunk and thick branches, all characteristics that indicated that it was Rafael's hollow. Blu continued flying, though he gulped again and began hovering, bearing a nervous expression upon his beak after he had only now realized that he had forgotten the six Reals that Eva had requested from him.

Even at this, he still decided it was worth it to continue his approach, until finally, after flying a further ten feet, a head featuring black feathers, dark-blue eye rings, and a large orange bill popped out from the rightward side of the hollow entrance.

"Hey, Blu, how's Jewel?" Rafael called, unsure that speaking in a normal tone of voice would be able to be heard clearly on the part of his friend.

"She's fine," Blu replied as he grasped the hollow entrance lip with his talons, whilst Rafael backed away by several feet, allowing him to land. Rafael then came to a standstill and smiled, before continuing the conversation that he intended to engage in with his friend.

"What did you come here for, anyway?"

"Oh, um, last time I was here, Eva asked me to get six Reals, 'cuz she wants to buy guavas at Market Forro. The problem is that I don't have any money on me. Great, I'm great at keeping promises, aren't I?"

"Well, you sure kept your promise when you said you weren't gonna let Jewel go, remember?"

"Wait, I told you that? Ah-ha, yes, of course I did… Weeks ago. So, uh, yeah, Jewel and I agreed to go out and ride a bus. As you can imagine, she agreed reluctantly, but in return, I also agreed to watch the city with her on top of the Vista Chinesa, ya know, the Chinese-looking gazebo nearby?" After Rafael gave no answer as to whether or not the gazebo was familiar to him, Blu's right foot reached down onto the floor of the hollow. He was utterly astounded when his head turned both left and right, promptly catching sight of not a single Toucan hatchling, nor even Eva for that matter. As a result, he could not help but ask Rafael why they were all gone. "Hey, uh, what happened to Eva and the kids?"

"Oh, they're all at Copacabana right now. Since you got a good memory and all, I'd expect you to remember when I said I'd have Miguel tested, right?"

"Yeah, I actually… No… I mean yes… Yes, I actually do remember!" Blu awkwardly stumbled over his own words, answering Rafael's question.

"Well, anyway, my sister Nela has five wild kids herself, and she's the one I hired to get him tested."

"And how will he be tested?"

"You know what, nevermind. In case you're wondering, the other seventeen kids are being taught dance lessons by Kipo and Nico. Anyway, let's go back to what you were talking about earlier." At Rafael's first sentence, Blu bore an unpleasant look on his beak, though this expression disappeared soon thereafter, then continuing the conversation.

"The gazebo, right. Do you know about the Vista Chinesa?"

"I do. Human tourists go there all the time, especially during the day. Anyway, are you sure Jewel will like riding a bus? I remember the one time I saw her in the sanctuary the day after she got her wing broken, and I saw her acting a bit feisty towards the doctors that were examining the bandages, making sure she wasn't doing anything to them. Eventually, they sedated her, and I flew away from the window I was watching her from. Besides the point, I'd think she wouldn't appreciate human stuff very much, especially after getting poked through the skin by a man-made piece of metal."

"I don't know why else she'd like to go to the Vista Chinesa then. I mean, it's also a man-made thing after all. It's even got Chinese architecture - wait, do you know what China is? Wait a minute, never mind, let's just move on."

"Alright, well, you're absolutely right that the gazebo is man-made. But, of course, there's the fact that a gazebo usually doesn't cause a sudden surge of pain and knock you out a couple seconds later."

"I know you were just talking about that, but honestly, I don't think hypodermic needles have a lot to do with riding buses."

"Sorry, you're right; I guess the gazebo also doesn't make a bunch a noise and smell terrible from the tail feathers."

"You mean the tailpipe where the exhaust comes out of?"

"Sure, whatever, tailpipe, a hawk's might."

"That doesn't even rhyme."

"I know, I know, but the point is, are you sure she wants to go on top of the bus?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, I guess. She said she wants to go into it with an open mind or something."

" _Ai caramba!_ Blu, you just admitted that you missed something."

"What? She said she wanted to go!"

"No, not that. You said "or something" at the end of your sentence. When you're out with a lady, you _don't_ want to do that. You wanna be sure of exactly whatever you're talking about, and you don't want to give the impression that that "something" would be better for your relationship."

"I'm sure, Rafael! I dunno, we just say "or something" at the end of our sentences a lot in America."

"And I believe you. But, in the future, you might _not_ be sure. Keep that word of advice in your heart, _not_ your head. Got it?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, I got it."

"Okay, now that we've got that out of the way, is there anything else on your mind?"

"Oh! Actually, yes, I got quite a lot. I saw a Peach-fronted Parakeet couple on my way here, and the gal had a white orchid on the side of her head. That means they just married, right?"

"Sure does. I think you might be talking about Lílian and Gianfranco. They were actually one of my favorite couples before you and Jewel showed up."

"Huh, Gianfranco?" Blu asked, bearing confusion in his voice. "That's an Italian name."

"I know. His parents named him that 'cuz his father escaped a zoo in Italy, got on a ship and made his way across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, before finally getting here. He taught Gianfranco Italian, and as far as I can tell, he's the only one of us that can speak it, since his father croaked a couple years ago."

"Wow, that would make for a spectacular movie. It'd probably make a ton of money in India and China."

"I bet it would," Rafael answered politely, though he did not have even the slightest idea of what Blu had just spoken about. Blu then transitioned the subject of the conversation very quickly, the expression that his beak displayed also changing from one of friendliness to one of nervousness.

"But back on topic, when I saw them, I realized what I have to do next… Ya know, I have to marry Jewel soon."

"Well, you're gonna have to propose to her first, but you never know, she might hint at marriage sooner than you think and try and set the mood. But, one thing I should mention is that I don't ever recall seeing her prior to me meeting both of you the day Carnaval started, so I'm just going to assume she came from somewhere else. That might be a bit of a problem in your relationship in the long run."

"And why could that be a setback in the long run, exactly?"

"Cultural differences, obviously!" Rafael replied in an unusually impatient tone of voice that Blu was rather startled by, throwing his black wings up in the air past his bill.

"Well, I do know that Nico and Pedro visited her sometimes. Did anything happen then? Whoa, wait, how come I haven't asked that already? I mean, sorry, sorry, uh… Yeah, just tell me if anything happened between them." After Blu had forwarded this request, Rafael's speaking tone had returned to its typical fashion that bore within it, a sense of patience and enthusiasm.

"I'm actually glad you asked, 'cuz that has a lot to do with her cultural differences. Nico and I were out at Corcovado one time while Pedro was busy with Kipo. There, he told me that he gave a white flower to Jewel as a "get well soon" gift at the sanctuary, and she screamed… No, seriously, she screamed 'cuz she thought she was dying! A few hours later, Nico visited her again and asked her why she had freaked out over seeing a flower. Well, he-he… Apparently, wherever she's from, they only give you a white flower if either A; you're already dead or B; you're about to die or likely will die. The next day, he visited her a third time, and she asked to be given the flower after she realized it was just a cultural misunderstanding. You see, that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about."

"Wow. I'm sure glad I wasn't Nico that day."

"Me too, I can't imagine giving a gift to Eva and having her freak out like that. It'd be funny to any birds watching, but it'd definitely be terrifying for me."

"Okay, um, I guess I should thank you for the advice," Blu said appreciatively, before saying his farewells to the toucan for the time being. "Bye, see ya soon!" After that, Blu turned around, facing the hollow entrance and stepping up on its lip before spreading out his wings, receiving a response from Rafael who now stood behind him.

"See you too, Blu, have fun!" Blu then flapped his wings, making his way out of the hollow of his friend, before finally returning to his and Jewel's hollow in a similar fashion as to how he had left it earlier in the morning.

 _ **Author's Fact of the Day:**_

 _ **Despite being one of the most frequently-shown bird species in the first "Rio," the only Peach-fronted Parakeet to receive a name is Petricious, Nigel's replacement in the film industry.**_


	2. To Ponder and to Fear

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello to all of my readers, once more! In spite of my long absence from publishing content on this archive, I am nonetheless still here and will fortunately continue to write content for it for many years to come. You may have all assumed that I simply gave up on this story in particular after having left it alone for half of a year, though this is not at all the case. In fact, this second chapter of mine was intended to be released in February, though I completely scrapped the original version of the chapter and rewrote it no less than ten separate times in order to maximize its overall writing quality.**_

 _ **For those who are curious, the thirteenth chapter of "Don't Go" is scheduled to be released in either July or August, while the rewrite of that story's second chapter will be worked on simultaneously and may be released in August or September. Lastly, I would like to publicly provide my utmost gratitude to the author by the name of Ricardo the Black Hawk, who kindly and generously promoted my work in a shout-out of sorts contained within his own story. He is a great author and a great person, and I recommend having a look at his stories after you are finished reading this chapter if you have not already. With my announcements now all past for the time being, let's fly!**_

Inside the humid yet comfortable hollow that served as the permanent residence of Blu and Jewel, a small collection of overlapping shadows suddenly came to extend their reach from one end to the other of a fruit, one which was spherical in shape and light-yellow in color. For the time being, it was kept steady in the air by the trio of talons that had locked around its vibrantly colored surface area only seconds earlier, which belonged to Blu, or more precisely, his right foot.

The shadows passing over the fruit then vanished as soon as the male macaw began the action of providing himself another bite by lifting the fruit itself towards his curved gray beak. As a direct consequence of the descent upon the forward end of the fruit that Blu's beak partook in, that very same forward end became severed from the other end that lied backward. An escape of excess juice (that was similar in color to the bearing fruit) from the thin walls of the macaw's beak then followed, occurring right before the juice came to trickle down the smooth surface area of the beak's lower portion.

To Blu, the enjoyment that he had just received from the fruit's distinctive flavor that was savory yet sour in nature deserved the comforted sigh that the bird subsequently heaved. More important however was his curiosity as to whether or not his majestic love interest shared with him the same positive opinions regarding the variety of yellow fruit (whose name was still an unknown matter to Blu) that the couple were both eating as the singular component of their breakfast.

For the purpose of having his question answered, the bird promptly turned around in his position that stood to the right of the oval-shaped entrance to the macaws' tree-borne abode, thus facing a Jewel that was maintaining her varying stance in the nest that her love-hawk had constructed. At the moment, she was consuming her own fruit quite voraciously, sparing no time at all to reflect upon her breakfast by any degree. Rather, the process concerning her eating was one that was simply repetitive, comprised of one hastily-made bite made into the fruit's surface area after another.

Simultaneously, her beak frequently concealed and revealed itself upon entering and then exiting the inside of the fruit. The feeling of joy that was bestowed upon the female macaw at every bite that she took was clearly exhibited by the comforting beam of sorts that her modestly-sized beak now presented.

Though Blu initially hesitated to provide his question to his love interest as her smile had brought to him a sense of mirth that persisted, not one indicating factor in when Jewel would at the very least bring about a brief pause in her breakfast had yet come to light. With that, the male macaw that stood before her could not help but interrupt her eating session himself by verbal means.

"Jewel?" After what could be assumed as a quartet of seconds came to pass, the mention of the female macaw's name led to Blu immediately garnering an inquisitive glance from her, which preceded the direction of Jewel's entire visual focus towards the bird that she loved and appreciated so dearly. Her beak then gradually retracted from its place within the inside of the fruit that she was eating until it finally revealed not only itself, but also the considerable uncleanliness that it now bore.

The beak's rightward, forward, and leftward areas spanning both its upper and lower portions were all coated in yellow juice, of which seemed to glisten increasingly at every adjustment made on the part of Jewel's feathered head. Every few odd seconds or so, a small number of yellow droplets that had previously clung to her beak plummeted towards the inside of the nest, thus staining the green leaves that composed it in turn. At such a sight, Blu could only laugh inwardly, an action that shortly thereafter led to a verbal reply from his love interest at long last.

"What is it, Blu?"

"This fruit is awesome," Blu responded enthusiastically, certainly pleasing Jewel to some extent. "Besides a cup of hot cocoa, I can't think of too much else that'd compete with it. Um… What was it that I – oh sorry! Uh, yeah, I occasionally forget words mid-sentence when I'm talking, so… Okay! I just wanna know what the fruit's name is, thank you."

"I don't know what hot cocoa is, but I'm pretty sure I'd agree with you," Jewel stated. "The fruit's definitely _sinistro_."

"Wait, um, _sinistro_?" her love-hawk asked in a sense of puzzlement. "That's the name? I mean, I'd definitely change it to something a bit more fitting, it kinda sounds like something sinister."

"No, silly, that's not the name, that's just the slang way we call something cool," Jewel corrected with a small hint of laughter in her voice.

"Oh, really?" Blu chuckled in a mild feeling of embarrassment. "Huh, that's interesting. But uh… What's the fruit's name again?"

"Muruçi," his love interest finally answered. "When I was little, it was my best friend every morning. It packs a whole lot of energy in just a few bites."

"Hah, yeah, I bet it does." Immediately past the time when Blu provided his agreeing statement, the conversation between the two macaws effectively ended for now, though neither of the macaws resumed their breakfast, as both of them held the prediction that the other bird would revitalize their discussion in the proceeding moments. A somewhat short time then came to pass before it was Jewel's prediction that was proven correct, as her love-hawk hardly managed to muster the confidence that would enable him to give an acknowledgement of the uncleanly state of her beak. "Um, Jewel…"

"What?" the female macaw consequently questioned.

"Oh, uh… Nothing!" Blu replied in a voice that conveyed a sense of passive anxiety. "You just got something –"

"Is it something really bad?!" Jewel nearly gasped whilst her turquoise eyes widened in utmost concern.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" the male macaw attempted to affirm in a manner that was definitely far from soothing. "You – you got something on your beak, is all."

"I know, I look like a total mess, don't I?" Jewel chortled, surprising her love-hawk as to the lack of any offence that she had just received from him. "Blu, you _really_ don't have to beat around the bush if I've got fruit juice all over my beak, okay? Don't lie to me if I eat like a… What do you call Rafael's kids again?"

"Barbarians," Blu sighed. "I'd never call you barbaric; you're just too nice."

"Aw, Blu," the female macaw cooed as her white facial markings and cyan cheeks were met with a hint of bright pink. "Are you sure about that? I'm definitely not as nice as Rafael."

"Well, you're definitely the nicest female bird I've ever met," Blu remarked.

"Thanks," his love interest giggled. "Even though I strangled you?"

"Sure. You didn't spend the last fifteen years hurling insults and snowballs at me like those two geese did in Minnesota. You only strangled me for fifteen seconds according to my math."

"I guess your life _wasn't_ perfect as a pe – I mean _companion_ … Sorry."

"Ah, it's fine, honestly. You can call me whatever you want." In response to Blu's polite decline of his love interest's apology, the latter of the two birds had her throat produce a high-pitched humming sound that conveyed nothing short of great fondness for the former. Jewel's visual focus then became diverted towards the floor of the hollow as she searched intently for any one leaf around her that could be used to wipe her beak clean. This attention towards the ground was quickly noticed by Blu, as the female macaw's eyes went on to fixate upon a relatively large dark-green leaf, sitting only a few inches to the left of the nest.

Within a very short period of time, Blu began to contribute to his momentary aims of proving himself as a gentleman in the form of serving Jewel by swiftly taking a number of steps in her direction and then bending over until his beak came to hang open by a slight degree, thenceforth clasping the leaf on the hollow's floor by the stem. Less than fortunate was the fact that the male macaw's long red tongue was instantaneously met with a bland and harsh taste, though he set this aside shortly afterward, as he realized that his tongue would be required to be used to traverse the leaf within his beak if he truly sought to cleanse his love interest's very own beak.

Though at first taken somewhat aback by Blu's action, it was only a moment later when Jewel recognized the intentions of the male macaw, now viewing it as almost an offering of sorts. In return and to the pleasure of her love-hawk, she could only display upon her uncleanly beak a wide smile of genuine adoration. Then deciding to complement Blu's efforts in his personal favor, her neck depressed until its position could be measured at an approximate thirty-degree angle. This she believed would moderately reduce the amount of effort that Blu would have to exert in advancing his beak and head in the air for the purpose of rendering unto her own beak a regained state of lustrousness.

Then reverting his stance to one that was upright, Blu remained at a standstill for a few more seconds as his eyes concentrated their attention upon the leaf, inspecting its overall structure for a general absence of large holes, as well as the general presence of a sufficient amount of moisture for the purpose of cleansing. Indeed, the leaf displayed both of these desirable factors, and with that, the male macaw took an additional step towards his love interest, thus allowing his beak to become almost adjacent with Jewel's.

Proceeding to gently dab the rightward area of the upper portion of Jewel's beak was the next action on Blu's part, all the while he controlled the entirety of his leaf's movement by the stem with the aid of his tongue. Once these cleaning efforts came to be proven to have been worthwhile at the sight of this area of the beak now bearing a hint of yellow for no longer, Blu began applying those very same efforts to the lower portion that adjoined to the upper whenever the beak itself was closed.

Still in the midst of having a sense of utter delight bestowed upon her by her love-hawk, Jewel's smile that had already been present for a short while widened further, and the rate at which she blinked accelerated substantially. Accompanying this was also another short transition in color that was made on the part of her cheeks and facial markings, now bearing a hue of pink that seemed to be much brighter than the similar hue that Jewel's face had shown when she had blushed not so long before.

Soon enough, the second area of the beak that Blu had begun cleaning proceeded to have its conversion to one which bore a clinging muruçi juice coating completely undone. Similar cleaning techniques were then utilized by Jewel's love-hawk on the forward areas of her beak, whilst Blu cleansed both the upper and lower portions simultaneously by placing the leaf atop the former portion in a vertical position before gradually dragging it downward. After finding this method much more efficient and significantly less time-consuming, this process was then repeated when Blu eventually began cleaning the leftward areas of Jewel's beak.

Much to Blu's relief, his cleansing work eventually arrived at a conclusion after having gone on for some seven odd minutes. He could simply no longer stand the sheer dryness that his tongue now bore after having used it to create the movement of the leaf's stem that had been needed for his efforts, though in his mind, all that truly mattered for the time being was if he had truly benefited Jewel. As he began purposefully producing saliva within his beak as to solve the problem that he had brought upon himself, he took several steps backward, now standing alongside the remainder of the muruçi that he had been eating only minutes earlier. With his tongue now moist once again, he spared no time before his eyes went on to passionately gaze directly into Jewel's.

The female macaw standing before Blu subsequently tilted her head in the same direction where her love-hawk had begun cleansing her beak, intended as a gesture that was supposed to complement the romantic interest that was shared by the couple. Ultimately, while this did partially serve the purpose that Jewel desired it to, the enhancement of the flare of affection between her and Blu only truly came to fruition when the couple resumed conversing with one another, accomplished as soon as Jewel began providing her utmost gratitude to her love-hawk for his hygienic assistance.

"Thank you for doing that," she almost whispered. "I really appreciate it."

"Oh, uh… Thank you – I mean um, you're welcome, sorry," Blu struggled in his reply whilst sporting a sheepish grin upon his beak and a slight hint of vermilion in his azure-feathered cheeks.

"You don't have to be sorry – you're funny," Jewel simpered somewhat alluringly. "Now that I think about it, is muruçi now one of your favorites?"

"Um, one of my favorite fruits?" Blu inquired before receiving a nod of confirmation from his love interest. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure! I mean, the survival guides don't say it's okay, probably 'cuz it'll be contaminated by bacteria in a week –"

"So, it _isn't_ okay?!" Jewel hardly strayed from hissing. "Blu, I flew out into the jungle looking for these fruits! I –"

"No, not at all!" Blu fearfully exclaimed. "Pretty much everything that the survival guides say are good food are things that usually don't taste very nice. I mean, I love chocolate mousse cake too, doesn't mean it'll last fifty years in a disaster shelter or a bachelor pad."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait… _Cake?_ " the male macaw's love interest grew utterly perplexed.

"Uh, S-s-sorry – again!" Blu stammered slightly. "It's a human – humans – um, human food, yeah! It's usually a dessert. Now that I think about it, I _still_ remember blowing out Linda's eighth-birthday candles, huh? I guess there's that picture on the wall somewhere in Minnesota."

"I doubt it's better than fruit," Jewel playfully objected.

"By my totally subjective hypothesis, that's probably true," the bird standing in front of her came to agree. "Wait? Do you even know what a hypothesis is?"

"No," his love interest answered as she shook her head towards him.

"Uhrm, thanks," Blu coughed. "I'm glad you're sticking with a "crazy nerd bird" like me. Gee, you haven't called me that, have you? Huh, I'm kinda surprised."

"What? Were you called that a lot?"

"Ah, yes! All the neighborhood finches and geese would spend the weekdays flying to stoplights and the parks, and on the weekends, they would usually fail at hitting me with a snowball, thanks to the magical forcefield at Linda's bookstore, called glass."

" _Usually?_ " Jewel barely managed to stifle the laughter that was attempting to release itself from her beak.

"Yeah, I'd um… I'd go out on walks, ya know, just a stroll in the snow right before dawn. Honestly, I got more snow in my feathers by walking. The snowballs just added on to it."

"Well, about that name those birds gave you… They were right. But, I'm so happy you are."

"Hah, very funny. I guess that's kind of a compliment. Wait, was it?"

"Try and guess," Jewel laughed exuberantly as she proceeded to nudge Blu against his left shoulder with her beak before continuing the conversation. "Better yet, why _wouldn't_ I give you a compliment? You saved my feathers, Blu. For that, I'd give you every compliment in the world."

"Aw," Blu cooed in a similar fashion as to how his love interest had done earlier. "Um, Jewel, speaking of compliments, I uh – well, can I just tell you something I meant to say on the trolley when we went to see Luiz?"

"Well, go on, I'm listening," Jewel replied in a voice that bore a sense of curiosity.

"Really? Are you sure you want to get a taste of my uh… Awkward way of talking?"

"Anything, Blu," Jewel assured as her heart began racing within her feathered chest in utmost anticipation as to what her love-hawk would say to her in a matter of seconds.

"Okay, I uh… Your eyes, your eyes, right! Um, your eyes, your plumage… Your facial markings, just everything! They look… Sensational!" Though an initial feeling of disappointment was inflicted upon Jewel at Blu's words, (regarding the fact that they were not the particular three that she had expected) she could still not help but blush yet again. As typical of any set of words that were borne from the beak of her love-hawk, Blu's kind remarks facilitated a verbal reply on her part not long afterward.

"So, is that what had to do with compliments?"

"Yeah! Do you want me to give you more compliments?"

"Well, I'd _like_ to fly off to the Vista Chinesa," Jewel reminded rather abruptly.

"Oh, well if you wanna fly right on over there, let's go then," Blu promptly carried on with his love interest's sudden thought. "But um… What was just on my mind? Oh… Um, Jewel, don't you have to do some extra flight exercises? I mean, it's what Tulio prescribed."

"Ugh, _fine_ ," Jewel groaned whilst her eyes rolled in a sense of impatience as her desire to fly to the gazebo intensified by a considerable degree. "I'll be back in ten to fifteen minutes. You should stay here – you're just not experienced enough of a flyer to help me out with this sorta thing."

"What if I came along and you taught me?" Blu offered.

"Blu, I'll… I'll teach you some lessons later," his love interest confidently dismissed. "Can you move a little bit to the left?"

"Ah, yeah, sure thing… My Matriarch," Blu jocularly complied while remaining completely unaware of the fact that he had just addressed Jewel by the title that she had been destined to inherit long ago. His attention soon afterward became focused towards a male red-and-green macaw that was flying on his merry way by surpassing the Spix's Macaws' hollow entrance, all the while the expression on Jewel's beak transitioned from her typical jaunty smile to a look that conveyed nothing short of total bewilderment. She simply bore not a clue in any one corner of her mind as to how her love-hawk could possibly know a single word concerning her home whose destruction had taken place before her some eleven years prior, let alone the titles that its rulers had used.

Once Blu's observations of the passing macaw came to a halt, he turned back around towards his love interest, who had just decided it best to convey with her beak only the ebullience that she felt at the moment in the presence of her love hawk, rather than the immense confusion that had beset her mind, which she had now come to recognize as having been the result of nothing more than a mere coincidence.

The female macaw then received a loving smile from Blu in return, who subsequently carried out the request that he had been given by making only a couple of steps backward, allowing Jewel's tail feathers to lightly bristle through the much smaller feathers encompassing his abdomen and chest as she stepped out of the nest. It was following that when she began waddling through the hollow as to not accidentally step on the floor's leaves and uneaten muruçi. All of this preceded the sudden gust of wind that came about inside the hollow as soon as Jewel had spread her wings before having then leaped into the air from the lip of the hollow entrance. Not long after that, even the sound of Jewel's wingbeats gradually faded, until her exact location could be pinpointed by her love-hawk for not a moment longer.

Finally, it now seemed that Blu's love interest was absent from not only his sight, but his range of listening as well. At the moment, anywhere from ten to fifteen minutes remained until the scheduled time arrived at which Jewel would mark her return to the hollow, leaving a state of pondering as the only activity that her love-hawk could conduct for the time being. To the fortune of Blu, a topic of concern immediately appeared within his area of mental concentration, thus eliminating any worry on his part in reaction to the limited number of options as to how he could pass the time.

In the mind of the male macaw, there was definitely more to be done with Jewel than to simply stand or sit atop the roof of either a gazebo or a bus, though he still wondered as to what he could do with his love interest during the afternoon or even after the eventual arrival of nightfall. It was a peculiar question that was undoubtedly one of utmost importance to Blu, as the subject of the conversation that he had held with Rafael at an earlier point in the morning maintained its presence within the bird's mind quite well.

Although the world's last extant male Spix's Macaw knew that gradually developing his relationship with Jewel was a necessary measure before he could feasibly provide any sort of proposal of marriage to her, such a proposal would have to be made in a short while if Blu were to truly solidify his romantic partnership. He reckoned that if he were to wait any longer than the period of a year in order to propose, a potential separation between the two birds could occur if any variety of truculence or disagreement happened to occur on the part of either bird. If he continued to hath not a sense of courageousness within his heart, but rather a feeling that could be described conversely, the chances of his entire kindred's survival past the evanescing of the time in which he remained alive would grow ever slimmer.

Regarding this realization of urgency that Blu had come to, he did not bear within himself the most positive of feelings about the situation at hand by any discernible measure. Contrary in nature however to the perceived misfortunes that had just revealed themselves was the advantage that he possessed of residing in the city of Rio de Janeiro, which held inside its vast boundaries a wide variety of options as to who could serve as his marriage counsellor.

But, out of every individual that belonged to the marvelous city's vast avian population that ranged from spoonbills to aracaris and from finches to even penguins on the seasonal occasion, Blu knew of not one bird that he personally felt was more suited to the role than none other than Rafael. It was definitely an easy choice to have been made by the macaw – for the past eleven years, Rafael and Eva had been married after having engaged in a highly-stable relationship, and the former of the two toucans had been acting as the King of Carnaval for a continuous fifteen years. As a matter of fact, such a position was one that among the birds of Tijuca Forest tended to be occupied by individuals that offered a great amount of romantic experience to those who sought such knowledge.

With this in mind, Blu desired nothing more than to hold a discussion with the male Toco Toucan, and it was one relating to his journey towards marriage that would have to be taken in order to continue the existence of his species. For now, Blu wanted to keep said conversation a highly secretive matter as to be able to obtain the most overwhelmingly joyful reaction that a rapturous Jewel could possibly provide. To his displeasure however, keeping the knowledge of his plans an unknown subject to his love interest would be an endeavor that would certainly not pose as merely docile, in fact surely the opposite.

If he was to succeed in holding a surreptitious conversation with the middle-aged toucan at some point during the remainder of the day, he would be required to separate from Jewel, but not for all that long of a time. To achieve the ends of this objective, it was already apparent that a convincing variety of believable excuse would have to be provided if his love interest was to realistically tolerate his sudden disappearance from her sight. Given Jewel's remarkable skill in discerning a liar from an individual who spoke of the truth, the excuse itself was something that could fail miserably with ease if Blu was to not exercise the highest degree of caution that he could bear upon himself to muster.

But alas, in the time that was underway for now, it appeared that not a single justifiable reason that he could use to viably bypass Jewel and her attentiveness could yet materialize within his mind. The direct result was a short-term suspension of the topic from the male macaw's line of thinking, with its replacement lying with a single idea that he believed could hold the potential of facilitating the beginning of an extensive conversation with his love interest.

As to receive a barrage of questions on her part as to promptly answer them in conjunction with charming Jewel if at all possible, this very same idea still being devised by her love-hawk was a scheme in which he would cheerfully greet her in a foreign tongue as she finished the process of her return to the hollow. In the end, she would no doubt be utterly bemused at an unintelligible string of words spouted from the beak of her heartfelt lover, though obtaining questions from her resulting confusion was quite simply the solitary goal of Blu's mentally-constructed interest project.

Now having isolated a clear aim that the male macaw hoped would come to light, he finalized on his decision to carry out the plan, with the next action resting upon his feathered shoulders lying with as to what language in particular would find appropriate use within the scheme. Spanish was almost immediately ruled out after this next phase of the plan was focused upon. This was so for the reason that Blu could indeed recall that mere minutes before the time when Jewel had begun undergoing the necessary surgical procedure on her left wing in the aviary some six weeks prior, she had spoken in the Romance tongue rather incomprehensibly (due to the sedatives that had been administered to her a short while earlier) with a young male Scarlet Macaw that had suffered a fracture to his left leg.

Filipino speedily followed suite in being stricken from the list, as Blu also happened to remember the moment during his gleeful dance with Jewel within the bourns of the Samba Club in which she had ascended towards the club's tarp ceiling. As the stainless-steel chain that had bound her right leg to Blu's left had physically suppressed her desires to return to Tijuca, she had sung the Filipino word _liya_ , (which the male macaw recognized as roughly translating to the English adjective _free_ ) all the while her facial markings had been rendered utterly pearlescent by the surrounding assortments of lights in the club.

The pondering Blu dared not even so much as think of using Portuguese for the task that he had willingly assigned himself. Such an act would be considered no less than thoroughly daft by the calculated bird, as the very first words that he had ever heard escape from Jewel's beak had all been spoken in the wondrous language, of course while he had been at the mercy of her relentless and tightening grip as he had been pinned down upon the hardened floor of the aviary's artificial jungle.

Coming with the outright removal of three distinct foreign tongues from the macaw's list of options that was already relatively limited was the further narrowing of the list to a very small number of remaining languages that he could use, amounting to only two. A moment's notice did not even come to pass before the idea of using French (due to Blu's pronunciation of its vocabulary still leaving much to be desired) was also abandoned, promptly splitting that miniscule number in half. Various phrases then entered Blu's mind that where borne from the sole language that he could really use to his momentary advantage, hailing from the central Baltic coastline in eastern Europe.

His contemplation regarding as to which phrase to form his invigorating greeting to Jewel consequently began, preceding the swift closure of Blu's large orbs comprised of the colors of hazel and white, as to intensify his focus upon the subject. After what could be measured as approximately half of a minute went by, the macaw's eyes reverted their focus to the encompassing hollow and the spectacular rainforest that lied outside. It seemed to the bird at the moment that he had completed his process of pondering, as it now appeared to him that the only thing that was left to do was to patiently await the return of his love interest to the hollow.

Nevertheless, inactivity on the part of Blu ceased to exist only seconds past his unspoken perfection of his greeting, as his curious eyes now directed all of their attention towards a gently-drifting object that had just come into his view only a second or so prior, following the moment in which it had surpassed the very uppermost portion of the hollow's entrance's circumference.

Whilst it was still partaking in its gradual vertical descent that would likely conclude upon its landing somewhere along the forest floor, the macaw could not help but wonder as to why he was so heavily intrigued as of now by a product of nature that was certainly not the most intricate of its kind – as a matter of fact, the object in its entirety was simply a bright-yellow feather that was intermediate in size, and one that appeared to be in a pristine condition at that.

Once the lovely feather came to pass below the hollow entrance's central area, its consistently-vertical position was rendered usurped by a tranquil breeze of wind that swept under the feather itself, leading that very same position to become horizontal, relative to the view of its magnificent presence that Blu was being provided at the moment. At around the time when his eyes had to depress somewhat within their sockets in order to retain his state of observation, the feather started oscillating at a constant rate before another breeze brought about yet another radical change to its course, thus carrying said feather away from the macaw as it floated off in the distance to his left.

With the feather now having had fully departed from his view, it took only a number of seconds before Blu determined that he would make worthwhile use of his time while Jewel was still absent from the hollow by carrying out a quiet rehearsal of his greeting. Proceeding with all of the actions required of the bird for the purpose of providing to himself a properly-coordinated session of practice, Blu came to stand in almost the direct center of the hollow's floor in as firm and confident of a posture that he could realistically achieve in the event when Jewel was to temporarily cease her absence from his sight.

His beak then began to hang open in order to recite his greeting correctly after his preferred position in the hollow had been obtained, though at almost the exact moment in time in which the first word rolled off of his tongue, the heart that he bore instantaneously jolted wildly within his feathered chest as the sound of an absolutely piercing, zestful squawk spontaneously marked its arrival in the air. All that was audible for at least an odd moment or so after that was the repetition of wings pounding upon the air, until the pattern of wingbeats simply vanished without their frequency having steadily died down at all.

Not at all odd concerning this point in time were the emotions that had been instilled into the alarmed macaw that still resided in the tree, which were of uneasiness and terror, clearly marked by the panicked and startled cry that immediately left his beak. What could be reckoned as a trio of seconds then came to pass before the cry itself given by Blu finally marked its conclusion. Even still, the bird was still by no means calm. Really, trembling in unison was the only further action that could be accomplished by Blu's wings and legs for about a moment after the end of his period of audible startlement. During this brief time, even the pair of typically-curious eyes that the bird sported could hardly even dare to squint at the outside world due to the fear that their bearer had just succumbed to.

Following the passing of a further ten seconds or so, Blu managed at the very least to open his eyes to their fullest extent and to begin proper observations of the surrounding Tijuca Forest, as not one act of harm had yet been inflicted upon him by the bird in flight that had caused the disturbance. With this realization contained within the mind of the Spix's Macaw, his worries came to gradually settle down as each subsequent second made its passing, leading him to eventually take a small step towards the hollow entrance. As not a sound apart from that produced by the bird's foot came to be heard, Blu finally (albeit quite timidly) initiated the process of slowly, but surely making his way to the hollow entrance on foot.

Once his talons lied within an inch's distance of the entrance's short lip, the macaw came to a halt and examined the jungle by traversing his focus from left to right, whilst still remaining in his place within the humid confines of his hollow. Fortunately, the only other creatures in sight from this position were a quartet of finches flying about near the forest floor. Without a single bird outside that posed any reasonable suspicions to the macaw, he was by now quite assured that what remained of his day would not include a moment of violent conduct on the part of any one individual, whether familiar to him or not.

His beak subsequently let out a sigh that conveyed his newfound solace as a result, and one which well preceded the hasty reversion of Blu's position in the hollow as he stepped back by a number of inches in order to finally carry on with the rehearsal that he had planned. It seemed to amount to not even a moment following that however when the emotions of dismay and nervousness returned to the bird's mind as soon as another squawk came to reverberate within the rainforest of Tijuca, almost causing Blu's ears to ring to the same extent as they had done whenever he had come to hear the peal of a very large bell in Minnesota.

It was in reaction to this second squawk in particular that Blu came to cower in utmost fright to the fullest extent that his mind could reasonably picture. In spite of this, he found himself capable of successfully holding back the urge in his mind that dictated that he should retreat towards the very end of his abode's interior, positioned directly behind the tree's lone nest that he had constructed. Right at the moment, the bird could nonetheless only pray that this entire situation that had come to take place before him would be discovered to be some form of elaborate practical joke played upon him on the part of one of his friends or acquaintances.

Yet another moment subsequently went about on its passing, and like many others that had come before it, the short span of time had been devoid of any noteworthy events, apart from the series of thoughts of dread and trepidation that continued to race throughout Blu's mind. Though he had not received any further information concerning the mysterious individual that lied somewhere within the shaded and disturbingly-quiet stretches of Tijuca, he could only assume for the time being that the momentary loss of his sense of vigilance had triggered the causation of the second squawk. By this notion, the bird predicted that moving by any large degree within his residence would bring about a third squawk and possibly an intrusion by an avian attacker, something that the male macaw was not at all prepared for in the slightest.

A gulp of striking uncertainty from Blu's feathered throat then followed as he managed to leave his feelings of overwhelming anxiety aside for now. This was before what could be appropriately described as a silent feeling of jubilation came around within his line of thinking, as he carried on with the somewhat precarious decision to take one more step towards the hollow entrance. To the macaw's utmost pleasure, a sigh of relief that left his beak came after that, rather than the opening stages of a home invasion that he had anticipated.

With this in mind, Blu at long last allowed the small portion of fearlessness that remained in his heart to spring forth by the means of action, of which involved the implementation of the further advancement along the hollow's floor on foot that the bird so heavily desired if he were to fight alone with another that threatened both him and his livelihood. Still, the sense of confidence that the Spix's Macaw had just obtained was by no means within his own thoughts firm enough to counter the uneasiness that was borne from what he perceived as his deteriorating set of fortunes, thus leaving the many feelings that he held which acted adversely to his intentions as remaining in their place for the time being.

Mustering every single ounce of will that the macaw could bear within his accelerating heart, he dared place his shaking right foot along the lip of the hollow entrance, before the grip that was held around said lip was hastily affirmed by the sickle-shaped talons that tightly wrapped around its surface area which lied both inside and outside the bounds of the bird's tree. Further assurance and lack of fright passed over Blu as no sudden squawk made its appearance. After exhaling and inhaling the surrounding humid air for a number of seconds, the Spix's Macaw swiftly used the muscles in all of the different components that comprised his left leg to have the entirety of his upper body and tail feathers arise from their place along the floor of the hollow, leaning slightly forward as to maintain his balance the entrance lip.

This action preceded the moment which came shortly thereafter, composed of the placement of the macaw's left foot along the entrance lip as to complement Blu's grasp of it, which at the moment was still withstanding, even in the wake of his instincts which could now only provide chants of encouragement to escape his tree-borne homestead. Blu then took yet another deep breath, deciding to make good use of the improvised observation post that he had obtained, though he could not help but poke his head out of the hollow entrance quite slowly due to his natural feelings of reluctance.

Indeed, the macaw was now in a good position, and as his neither his feathered head nor his eyes of hazel barred from viewing what lied above or below, as well as what lied much further east or west, his search for the mysterious bird outside could definitely be optimized, rather than obstructed. For the next few moments, Blu's line of sight swung from side to side, and every few odd seconds, the forest floor which surrounded the trunk of the last two Spix's Macaws' trees would acquire a glance from him. A frustrated look appeared on the male macaw's beak a short time later, as even now, hardly any birds of really any variety could be found.

In fact, the Tijuca Forest that surrounded Blu at this time was one which almost seemed to him as if he was undergoing the state of sleep and was somehow trapped inside of a bizarre dream from which he could not escape. All but one of the birds in sight that he could see were passerines, including two Greenfinches and three Pin-tailed Manakins, with none of whom bearing any type of capability of producing such a piercing sound that had obviously come from the beak of another parrot.

The one exception to this was a single female Red-masked Parakeet in flight some fifty feet west who appeared to be gravid, even from such a long distance away from Blu. Still, the macaw did not hold her suspect to his recent troubles, as his ears had not caught the sound of her slowly-paced wingbeats prior to the parakeet entering his visual focus. It was this almost total absence of any parrots from the rainforest that left the macaw nothing short of horrified. His beak only stopped itself from quivering by a very narrow margin once Blu realized that some sixteen-and-a-half minutes had passed, yet not one sign of Jewel had arrived at what was effectively his doorstep.

Though it was by no means impossible that the male Spix's Macaw's love interest could have come into the presence of a friend of hers and that she was simply chattering happily as of the passing moment, the worst of his fears were unfortunately not impossible either, given the state of the other hollows around him that were devoid of the very same neotropical birds which Tijuca was always abundant with. Now both terrified from this realization and by most accounts utterly knackered due to his observations which did not seem to give up in resisting to provide any fruitful results, the macaw attempted to soothe himself by accomplishing three breaths by the means of using his beak rather than his nostrils. To put it quite mildly, this did very little in aiding Blu's emotional crisis of sorts by any discernible measure.

Denial was the next course of action that was followed by the panicked macaw, with Blu at first shutting his eyes quite tightly, as for the time being, he believed that the sheer lack of parrots in the surrounding jungle was a trick being played upon him by his eyes and ears. Less than fortunate however was that when his visual focus became fully removed from the void of darkness borne from his closed eyelids, what lied before him remained the same as it had been some ten odd seconds earlier. With no doubt whatsoever in his mind that he was still surrounded by the real world, the macaw's personal confidence practically faltered in what seemed to be within the span of little more than an instant.

At the moment in fact, Blu was convinced that he ought to resort to retreat, before pondering for a brief moment over the subject. Before long, he made the decision to turn around from where he was standing and to immediately take cover behind the nest if a violent intruder were to make its way inside his one and only home. That way he thought, the macaw believed that he could avoid a possible assault from the air by the intruder and could very easily fight it off if he were to partially dismantle the nest in order to use the twigs which composed it as improvised weapons. To carry out this new plan of his, the macaw then craned back his neck in order to face the nest, though upon doing so, he could not proceed with the new idea of his, much to the bird's dismay.

This was because as soon as he turned around, the three uppermost feathers that stuck out from the back of his head became lightly bristled as they gently grazed against a smooth object that was now hanging directly above Blu's head, causing him to face the outside world yet again. Once the macaw soon afterward recognized that whatever this object lying above the hollow entrance was not the familiar bark which he knew comprised its circumference, his eyes instantaneously widened in consternation whilst his beak dropped roughly to the center of his throat. At this precise moment in time, nothing less than a feeling of nightmarish terror succeeded in momentarily consuming Blu completely, as he knew for certain that the intruder above him could very well be capable of immediately sealing his fate.

 _ **Author's Fact of the Day:**_

 _ **Neto, a Spix's Macaw from "Don't Go," uses the surname "Pereira." This is a reference to Gustavo Pereira, who served as Blu's voice actor in the Brazilian Portuguese dubs of both "Rio" and "Rio 2."**_


End file.
